GHOST HUNTERS AT THE INN
by susan cousineau
Summary: This is the story of an old Inn in a small town and the investigation done by TAPS


The inn was set in a small town in the western part of Massachusetts. It had been in the same family for over one hundred years and tastfully decorated. The plush carpeting the victorian aroma and furniture filled the inn. You could feel the love when you entered.

However, something was not quite right in this beautiful old inn, the air was full of sadness in some of the rooms. It was a feeling that touched your soul, a feeling that could not be denied. Upstairs in the larger bedroom on the north side of the home a man had committed suicide many years ago. He had been a teacher at a local college who had fought depression his whole life and had left no note saying why he had shot himself on that warm summer day in 1940.

Years had gone by and the home had been inherited by the grandson of the original housekeeper. It was large with over fourteen rooms and five bathrooms, and was the perfect place for a bed and breafast.

John and his wife Sally decided to go with the twenty-first century way of making a living and turn their home into a local bed and breakfast. But, what to do with the room that had once belonged to the man Larry who had committed suicide so many years before. As had been the way of handling suicides during those days the room had not been entered since Larry's death.

The room was a large room and untouched. As a matter of fact John who had been born in the home and was now in his fifties, had never seen the inside. He didn't even have a key, so after a long discussion it was decided that they would open the room.

John had to pry the door open on that hot August day and as the door opened Sally and John were very surprised to feel a freezing cold breeze run by them. They stood there in the doorway and looked into the room. Everything was exactly as it had been over sixty years before. The room was filled with cobwebs and smelled very musty but was still intact.

Sally went over to the closet and noted that all Larry's clothes were still there, along with all his papers and books. Both John and Sally went through everything scrubbed all of the room and made the decision to make that one of the rooms that they would rent to customers. Leaving the bathroom as a 1940's bathroom gave it that nastalgic look and would be popular with their clients.

One day while making the bed Sally was sure that she heard her name whispered. She looked out in the hall and saw that no one was in the house but her.

Two days later while getting the old dining room downstairs ready for the inn John heard a noise and turned around just in time to see a plant levitate and smash on the floor. This was something he had never seen before and quite frankly sent shivers down his spine. He had always lived there and had never experienced anything like that.

Three months had passed and John and Sally were ready to open the Inn. The house had been done over top to bottom and they were very excited. John had gone outside to hang the sign leaving Sally alone when she heard a sound.  
Sally turned around to see a bright light come down the hall turn up the stairs and go straight into Larry's old room. She called to the light but got no response. 'They say that sometimes when you make changes to an old house the spirits come back to check' she thought to herself.

Sally and John thought that they had made peace with the spirits in the house but they continued to experience things that couldn't be explained. The Inn was doing well and they were getting quite comfortable with their lifestyle.

One night while in the kitchen doing dishes Sally heard a scream coming from the front of the house. She ran into the hall to see one of her guests standing there white as a sheet. "My god Sally, I have to leave. I just saw a lady on the stairs and she disappeared.' she told her shaking uncontrollably.

Sally and John were in trouble now. How were they to handle the spirits in the house? They couldn't run a business if the spirits were going to be frightening the guests away. This was a lady not Larry. The couple needed to reach a paranormal investigator.

As luck would have it on line she found a paranormal team in the area who said that they could be out the next week when there were no guests scheduled to stay.

The team came in and brought infrared cameras, a box to hear the spirits a recorder a flashlight and what they called a k2 meter. Immediately things started to happen and they were sure that they had reached the original housekeeper and Larry.

Although, they received a couple of small evp's {voices on their recorder that weren't heard by them while they were in the room} they had not caught anything on camera. The night had been quite uneventfuly until they went into the dining room. One of the ladies had left their camera bag in the room accross the hall.

Now, they had been taking pictures and things in that room not five minutes before, so they expected everything still to be with the bag. But they were not the bag was empty. Everyone searched both the living and dining room to no avail nothing was there. Sally went upstairs and looked in every room, she could not find the items.

They were sitting in the dining room talking about the situation when the lady that owned the camera bag spoke up and said "Larry it's cool that you hid all my items, but you have now hidden my keys. If you don't at least return the keys you will have a permanent guest." she said to him with a laugh.

Well, surprise surprise they walked accross the hall and all of the items were now on top of the camera bag in plain sight. This was something that couldn't be explained.

The local paranormal team contacted Jason from Ghost Hunters and they agreed to come to the Inn and see what was occurring.

Sally was at wits end and could not wait for Ghost hunters to arrive at the Inn. It seemed as though the activity had been getting wilder and wilder and something happened nearly every day. John and Sally wanted to see if there was anything that they could do to satisfy their spirit's needs so that they could live with them in peace. They were sure that the spirits were friendly, however, they must be trying to tell them something.

The TAPS team came to the home on the following Tuesday. They consisted of seven different members Jason Grant Steve Dustin Kris Mike and Dave. They walked through the home noting all of the places that they should set up the cameras and recorders.

Jason and Steve noted how nice and clean the home was, as it was many times they went into old places where no one had lived for many years and were dirty or in ill repair. This was not the kind of place that people usually found to be haunted.

Lockdown happened at eight pm that night and the team found itself alone with a van in the driveway where they could keep an eye on the cameras throughout the house from one vantage point.

Although, the house was big, noise was a big problem on investigations and they always wanted at least two floors between teams This home had a barn where Larry had committed suicide that night many years ago so two members were sent out there right away.

That left two teams to do the home and Jason and Steve took the third floor. The third floor was not done over yet and seemed like a good place to start. They took a seat in the middle room where some of Larry's personal things had been packed.

"Is there anyone in this room who would like to communicate with us?" Steve asked. "We have a flashlight here that you can turn off and on by turning the knob on the front. I have a recorder that you can speak into also.

"My name is Jason. We have come from Rhode Island for the priveledge of speaking to you. We have cameras that can see in the dark a recorder for your voice and a flashlight that you can turn off and on like Steve said"

To their pleasure the k2 meter began going off almost right away and the person who was working it identified himself as the original owner David Haskell.

"David are you happy with the work that John and Sally have done to the house?" Steve asked.

The k2 meter went all the way to the third color and Jason and Steve were pleased. "Are you alone?" Jason asked. "If you are alone please turn on the flashlight." There was no response.

"Are there more than two people in this room with us?" Jason asked and the flashlight went on immediately. "If one of the people in the room is Larry can you light the k2 or shut off the flashlight please?"

There was no movement and Jason and Steve wondered who they had reached: "There is a report that a woman appeared on the stairs a few months back, is that lady in this room? If she is please light the k2" Steve asked.

With that the k2 went off to the red all the way up. "Are you David's wife Sara?" Jason asked them.

The k2 meter again went all the way to the red. "Is this where you stay most of the time? Do you stay upstairs so that you don't bother the guests?" Jason asked.

The flashlight went on but dimly and they knew that the spirits were tiring. "Thank you for your time we know that you are tiring and we won't bother you in this room again." Jason told the spirits.

As they left the room they took several photos and looked around. There was nothing notable about the room.

Meanwhile down in the cellar Grant and Kris were having some contacts of their own. They had gone to the back room near the washing machine and dryer and taken a seat. Just as they sat down they heard something fall in another part of the cellar. They ran to the sound and found a flower pot on the floor smashed.

"Is someone here? Do you want to communicate with us?" Grant asked.

There was an eerie silence and both Kris and Grant felt that they were not alone. They put down their equipment and took a seat next to the smashed flower pot. "We have some instruments that you can use to communicate with us. We can hear you if you speak with this recorder and this camera will take photos in the dark. You can turn the flashlight on and off by twisting the top or touch the grey box lighting the lights. " Kris said.

It was then that they heard the footsteps coming from behind them, they turned and got up quickly but not quick enough the spirit was gone. They tried for over half an hour but got no response.

Mike and Dave had gone out to the barn. The barn was in very good shape and was the proud host of two 1950's era thunderbird's. "Nice car." Dave said. The barn had two floors and since no one was sure where Larry had commited suicide they wanted to do both floors.

Mike looked over at the camera that had been set up in the corner "Is there anyone here? My name is Mike and this is my friend Dave. We have some equipment that will help you communicate if you wish. We have a k2 that you can light a flashlight that you can twist on and off to questions or we have what we call a franks box. With this box if you speak we will hear your voice over the radio."

Mike and Dave sat in that one spot for about ten minutes with no response. They had just about given up when Dave felt a hand on his shoulder. "Is that you Larry? Are you here? I just felt someone touch my shoulder." he asked.  
There was no response to their requests and so they decided to go upstairs. The upstairs had a lot of old furniture up there and perhaps they would have better luck up there.

As they were just finishing setting up their equipment they heard the barn door open and close. This surprised them because no one should be there at this time. They ran down the stairs and looked everywhere but found nobody or nothing.

"Did anyone just go into the barn?" MIke asked through his walkie talkie.

Dustin who was in the van monitoring had been surprised to see the barn door open and close. There was no one that appeared leaving or coming and had wondered if Mike and Dave had started to leave the barn and changed their mind. "No. I thought it might have been you and Dave leaving the barn" Dustin told them.

"No we were upstairs when we heard the door open and close. We ran down the stairs but found no one there." Mike told him.

It was time to meet at the van and change places now, so they all met in the van. They watched in amazement as the door to the barn opened and closed with no one in and around the door. This was quite the spot k2 flashlight voices, it was a great hunt. It was now time to go to Larry's old room. This was a place that they looked forward to going into.

It was decided that Grant and Steve would go into Larry's room and Jason and Kris went to the barn. Mike and Dave would go to the basement and see if they would have any luck with contacting the spirit in the basement.

Grant and Steve went to Larry's old room and found it to be pleasant with a large double bed from another era with a matching table and bureau. The bathroom had an old clawfoot tub with the old type faucets on the free standing sink.

"Larry, my name is Steve and this is my friend Grant we are here to speak to you if possible. We have a grey box here that you can touch and cause to light up a flashlight that you can twist the top and turn it on and off and a recorder that will record your voice. This box here will scan radio waves and pick up your voice if you speak. Our cameras are like the cameras of your day however, they can take photos in the total dark."

There was an unexplained chill in the air and Grant felt very odd. He got up and started to walk toward the door and lost the next five minutes of his life.

"Grant are you ok? Grant?" Steve asked concerned.

"I am ok. Please leave me alone. I will try to be good to Sally and John" It was Grant;s face and body and not his voice. He then fainted on the floor.

"Someone come to Larry's room right away" Steve called on the walkie talkie.

By the time Jason and Kris got to the room Grant was back to his old self but had no memory of what had just happened. It was with that that Ghost hunters acknowledged there was some activity at the inn and that Grant had possibly been a victim of possession. That meant it was time to close shop.

The next morning they all took seats in the dining room and watched the tapes. When they got to the tape in Larry's room they were shocked to see an orb go around Grant encircling him and then appear to disappear into his chest. Not fifteen seconds later his whole demeaner changed as they believe Larry had taken his body over.

In the basement they did receive an evp of a woman telling them to leave her alone and in the barn there was the closing of the door. However, none of the ghost hunting team felt that any of the spirits meant harm and that people would be safe there with a talk with Larry.

Since Sally seemed to be the person that Larry trusted the best they told her that she needed to set certain rules in the home and that things would go well for John and Sally.

After TAPS had left Sally went to Larry's room and told him that he was always welcome in the home and that she was always open to communication, however, he could never possess another person especially a guest and that guests were to be treated as guests from now on.

Sally and John still run the inn and still have some experiences but all have been friendly so far.


End file.
